130 BUEEAU OF AMEKICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



from the top by cultivation." ( Fowke, op. cit. ) Another stood about 

 5 miles above the mouth of the Bullpastiire, in Highland County, 

 Virginia. " For forty years human bones and teeth have been plowed 

 out every time the mound was cultivated," but from the remaining 

 part of the mound " the remains of between seventy-five and one hun- 

 dred skeletons were exhumed." ( Fowke, op. cit. ) A mound in which 

 the bodies were less compactly deposited stood on Hayes Creek, in 

 Kockbridge County, Virginia. (Valentine Museum, (1).) 



Referring to the native tribes of this part of Virginia Mooney has 

 written : " The history of the Monacan tribes of Virginia belongs 

 to two distinct periods, the colonization period and the colonial period. 

 By the former we may understand the time of exploration and settle- 

 ment from the first landing of the English in Virginia to the expedi- 

 tions of Lederer and Batts, in 1670 and 1671, which supplied the first 

 definite information in regard to the country along the base of the 

 mountains. Under the colonial period we may include everything else, 

 as after the Revolution the small remnant incorporated with the Iro- 

 quois in Canada virtually disappeared from history. Up to 1670 the 

 Monacan tribes had been but little disturbed by the whites, although 

 there is evidence that the wars waged against them by the Iroquois 

 were keeping them constantly shifting about. Their country had not 

 been penetrated, excepting by a few traders, who kept no journals, 

 and only the names of those living immediately on the frontiers of 

 Virginia were known to the Avhites. Chief among these were the 

 Monacan proper, having their village a short distance above Rich- 

 mond. In 1670 Lederer crossed the country in a diagonal line from 

 the present Richmond to Catawba River, on the frontiers of South 

 Carolina, and a year later a party under Batts explored the country 

 westward across the Blue Ridge to the headwaters of New River. 

 Thenceforward accounts were heard of Nahyssan, Sapona, Totero, 

 Occaneechi, and others consolidated afterwards in a single body at the 

 frontier, Fort Christanna, and thereafter laiown collectively as Sa- 

 poni or Tutelo. The Monacan proper form, the connecting link be- 

 tween the earlier and the later period. The other tribes of this con- 

 nection were either extinct or consolidated under other names l^efore 

 1700, or were outside of the territory known to the first writers. For 

 this reason it is difficult to make the names of the earlier tribes exactly 

 synonymous Avith those knoAvn later, although the proof of lineal de- 

 scent is sometimes beyond question." (Mooney, (1), pp. 2.5-26.) 



Thus it will be understood that although piedmont Virginia was 

 the home of many related tribes, all of whom may have belonged to the 

 Siouan linguistic family, vSufficient information is not available to make 

 it possible to designate the habitat of each tribe, and thereby identify 

 the occupants of a village when a near-by burial place was created. 



